This week, Kriyabans from the Assisi Institute will share aspects of their journey on the spiritual path as Isha Das turns to other work on our behalf. Today’s reflection comes from Kriyaban Stephanie Kelly.
“It is through the heart that we experience God.”
Isha Das
As I write this reflection, it is Saturday night. I am feeling so blessed to have a warm house and a lit fire while it is snowy and frigid outside. And though I am comfortable, at peace, and perfectly safe, something is tugging at my heart. It is as though I am absolutely supposed to appreciate and enjoy all the comfort and the peace that I am blessed to have, and at the same time, I am supposed to be aware of whatever it is that tugs at my awareness. When I ask myself what could possibly be distracting me from such a beautiful night, I realize that the tugging on my heart is God. More specifically, it is God pulling part of my attention tonight to the people of Ukraine. God is gently reminding me that the people of Ukraine need my prayers and my deep silence. I sense the tug on my heart and not in my head, because only with my heart can I truly feel my connection to those people so far away. My mind has no connections to specific people or things in Ukraine, but my heart is completely different; my heart knows that my soul is united to millions of souls there. By virtue of that soul connection to them, I feel God’s tug and I want to pray for them. And so tonight, I am holding the people of Ukraine in light and love.
Today is Ash Wednesday, which is a time when all of us, from all religions, can fast, prepare in our hearts, and experience deep reflection and meditation. When ashes are placed on our foreheads, we are told, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The ashes remind us that like Christ, we too are both human and divine; we are born, we die, and we too are resurrected in God. Yogananda teaches us, “Christ is risen in the heart of every flower, every ray of sunshine, every noble thought. He is risen in the atomic age, and all its devastations will not hide the birth of his spirit of new life, new humanity, rising from the cradle of wisdom and universal love.” In the truth of the Universal Christ, we can know deep in our hearts that the suffering of the people of Ukraine is not in vain, and our prayers for them have real power. Isha Das is right: “It is through the heart that we experience God.”
Through my heart and soul,
I am connected to you,
Divine Mother,
And to all
My brothers and sisters.
